I keep hearing people talking about recording on iRiver, so I gave it a quick once over. I'm not understanding how this is any different from an iPod. Is that basically what it is? Does it have wireless mic accessories? Also, what's the best audio device for recording a 'one time shot' like a wedding? It's hard to go back and redo those, so I don't want to mess it up.

I'll admit upfront to not having any hands on experience with the iRiver but my impression as well is that it is very similar to an iPod. It's really designed as a portable player for your "toonz" and IMHO is not a serious recording device even though it can be made to work. In the low budget, portable, category I'd look towards something like the m-Audio Microtrack 24/96, Martantz 671, Tascam HD-P2 or similar.

To Steve's suggestions I'd add the line of Sony Hi-MD recorders, ranging from about $200-400 depending on features and included accessories. They are pocket sized but give professional results.

Overall, though, I'd say that the best device for recording those "one shot" situations is your camcorder, using a wireless lav mic on the groom, as well as a cardioid or hypercardioid mic for backup. The mic can be on the cam in a pinch, but much better placement would be on a stand as close to the wedding party as you can get away with. Putting a lav on both the officiator and the groom, with one of them being wireless and the other going to a pocket recorder would be a good setup too.

The ideas incorporated here are
1. Lavs give great audio
2. The wireless enables monitoring at the cam--a huge plus
3. It's crazy not to have a backup audio track.

The Sennheiser G2 wireless system is very popular with the pros. I'm not a pro, but I do have a Sony Hi-MD recorder and a Senn G2 system.

I argee with what has been said here, good advice.
I shoto a lot of weddings, and frr ceremony work place a wireless mic on the groom, sent to my camera. I use a Samson Micro32 wireless, but many use the Senheiser Evoluton series wireless (probably teh best affordable wireless).

I then place a digital recorder either on the podium for readers and speeches.
Now with this being said, I use to use IRivers (worked great for a while, but developed large problem of any computer not being able to detect the device, hence I couldn't get backup audo off the unit.).

I then switched to teh M-Audio microtrack, which has worked very well for me for the most part. However, Edirol has just shipped their R-09 units, which I just purchased last week. Phenominal unit, that records to SD media, has built in stereo mics, so far rock solid firmware, good built in preamps, easy to operate, seperate line and mic inputs (no need to go into the menu), records in MP3 and WAV format, fast level meters, and more. It's very small, but so far very reliable for me.
I am testing it in several configurations right now:
1. R-09 fed line signal from Promix 3 mixer and matched pair of NT5's
2. R-09 with mic feed of AT822 mic
3. R-09 using built in stereo mics

For reception use I use either wireless handheld mic on mic stand fed to camera, and use shotgun mic on camera as well.
or
Mixer with 2-3 mics fed into it, recording to recorder, and sending wireless signal to my camera at the same time for backup audio and moitoring.

The iRiver FP8xx and FP7xx series mp3 players have an external mic input that you can set levels on. None of the other players that I know of have this, including other models of iRiver. Others have line-level inputs but not mic inputs.

The menu interface on the FP8xx is difficult to navigate and sound is ok but not great. The mic plug is wired weird and you need to either have a custom-wired mic or use a stereo to dual mono plug adapter to use it.

The advantage of the iRiver is that it is cheap (on ebay, since it's discontinued) and it's small, so you can use it as a pseudo wireless lav.

If you have the budget, get a real wireless or use the Edirol R-09 or Microtrak recorders. But for around a $100 for an iRiver and a Giant Squid Audio lav mic, they're tough to beat. Both dialog and nat sound on this slideshow http://www.chuckfadely.com/content/brittany_soundslide_20060508/ were recorded on the iRiver.

Chuck Fadely